Share-worthy and Picture Perfect Mother’s Day Lunch Box

You know what’s a Mother’s Day gift? Something yummy, something homemade, something share-worthy and picture perfect. Think out of the box – think lunch box. And it’s so easy to prepare! Read on as we show you how to win this Mother’s Day big time with fun and simple DIY recipes by Baker / Experimental Chef / Food Photographer, Honeybeesweets. We’ll also share tips on how you can pair the Canon EOS M100 camera with the SELPHY CP1300 compact photo printer to personalise your lunch box and capture this moment of motherly bliss. Ready?

Step 1: Put on your chef hat
Okay, let’s start with the most challenging part: cooking – even tougher because we’re cooking for mum. Not to worry, Honeybeesweets is here to save us! Here are her top 3 favourite recipes guaranteed to make mum go “awww” with every bite.

How to cook and assemble:
1. Add 1 tsp cooking oil on the sauté pan over a medium low fire, pour out the beaten egg to the pan, wait until it's done on both sides.
2. Roll up the omelette egg and cut into noddle-like slices.
3. Cook the marinated salmon fillet on the pan until just cooked through. Remove from the pan and set aside. For the sauce, add in 1 tsp cooking oil and minces garlic over medium low fire, then add in all the seasoning ingredients into the same pan and cook until the liquid thickens.
4. Place cooked rice at the base of the bento as well as the shredded tamago over the other side.
5. Place cooked salmon fillet over one side of the rice. Drizzle the cream sauce over the salmon fillet.
6. Topped the shredded tamago with tobiko and sprinkle some nori flakes. Lastly, place the Japanese cucumber slices, pickles, tomatoes around the sides.

Second Recipe: Cream Sauce Chicken Meatballs in Rice Basket

Ingredients for meatballs:

250g minced chicken

Plain flour (for coating)

Marinate:

1.5 tsp soy sauce

1 tsp sesame oil

½ tsp pepper

1 tsp corn flour

Sauce ingredients:

1 small onion, peeled & finely chopped

2 garlic cloves, peeled & minced

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tbsp plain flour

200 ml milk

1 tsp Hondashi powder

1 tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper

Garnishing:

1.5 cup cooked purple Japanese rice

Sautéed garlic mushroom

4-5 baked pumpkin slices

4-5 boiled broccoli

3 boiled red capsicum that is cut into heart-shaped

How to cook and assemble:
1. In a boiling pot, put the brocolli, carrots and capsicums for 1-2 minutes.
2. Cut and mince the chicken breast.
3. Place a sheet of plastic wrap over a rice bowl. Then scoop the purple sushi rice over the plastic wrap. Wrap up the plastic wrap and press the rice so it will form into a shape of the bowl.
4. Mix all of the marinate ingredients with the mixed chicken meat. Let it sit for 10 minutes, then divide the marinated chicken meat into 8 meatballs.
5. Coat meatballs lightly with flour.
6. Add 2 tbsp cooking oil on a saute pan over medium low fire. Cook the meatballs until golden brown on the outside. Remove from pan and set aside for later use.
7. Place the shaped-out rice bowl into the bento box. Carefully scoop the cream sauce chicken meatballs into the rice bowl, then place the mushroom, pumpkin, capsicum, broccoli into the bento, arrange neatly.
Steps to prepare the cream sauce:
a. In a sauce pot, add 1 tsp cooking oil over medium low fire. Add in chopped onion, minced garlic and cook until soften.
b. Add in butter and let it melt. Add in flour and stir in to cook. Once properly coated, add in the milk.
c. Add all of the seasoning, combine. Let it simmer for 3-4 minutes.
d. Add in the chicken meatballs in and simmer for 5-8 minutes until the meatballs absorb the sauce.

Third Recipe: Chicken Wrapped Rice Balls with Cheese Surprise

Ingredients:

10 thinly slices of chicken meat or turkey bacon

5 small cheese cubes (cheddar or mozzarella)

1 cup cooked sushi rice

Seasoning for teriyaki sauce:

2 tbsp light soy sauce

1 tbsp Japanese cooking wine

1 tbsp mirin

1 tsp sugar

Garnishing:

Cherry tomatoes

Fresh mixed greens with cut-out flower-shaped carrots

2 eggs

1 tsp mirin

¼ tsp soy sauce

How to cook and assemble:
1. Cut the chicken breast to thinly slices. Or you can use turkey bacon as replacement.
2. Scoop about 2 tbsp cooked sushi rice on a piece of plastic wrap. Press and shape the rice into a round flat disc. Place the cheese cube in the middle of the rice.
3. Wrap up and seal to form a rice ball, concealing the cheese inside. Repeat until all 5 rice balls are formed.
4. Wrap the rice balls with the chicken slices or turkey bacon. Use the plastic wrap to hold the whole rice ball together.
5. In a sauté pan, add 1 tsp cooking oil over medium low fire. Place the chicken-wrapped rice balls on the pan and sautéed until the meat is cooked.
6. Add in all of the seasoning, let it cook until the liquid thickens and the rice balls coated with the teriyaki sauce. Remove from pan and set aside.
7. Place the cut-out omelette egg and chicken rice balls inside the bento, you can put them in the middle, and place the mixed greens and carrots all around the chicken rice balls.

Step 2: Get creative

The perfect DIY gift doesn’t simply stop at the craft. You’ve got your flavour, now personalise it for her. Here are some quick ideas:

Pen a heartfelt note

Share your Mother’s Day message wirelessly! Instead of the ‘old school’ method of writing on a card, why not do it on your device and print it instantly on the SELPHY CP1300? This idea is not only convenient, it lets you add fun to drawings and illustrations together with your note; you can even pair it with selected snaps from your photo album on your device.

Serve sweet memories as dessert

Speaking of pictures on your image library, reliving sweet mother-child memories is now so much easier! Simply select photos and send to print – all wirelessly. With SELPHY CP1300, you can print from a variety of print layouts, from postcard size, credit-card size to 2" x 6" size prints. Let your creativity run wild; collaging and scrapbooking personalisation is effortlessly fun when you have a compact wireless photo printer by your side.

Celebrations are not just about messages and memories. Be sure to capture new moments too! This is when the 24.2-megapixel EOS M100 camera comes in handy. Designed with a 180-degree tiltable LCD monitor, you can get direct selfie previews right before capture. While the Self Portrait Mode allows you to create beautiful background blur and smoothen skin tone to achieve that perfect selfie shot.

With lunch looking so yummy and pretty, be sure to snap a picture of your lunch boxes too. Best captured from the top down, we recommend a flat-lay style to really display all the ingredients and quirky plating (or should we say ‘lunch boxing’).

Pro Tip: Keep the background simple and feel free to place add-on subtle objects or textures to elevate your picture. More professional photography tips HERE!

Make it a date to remember!

Mother’s Day is all about the little things to show moms that they mean the world to us. Start planning early, put your heart in all the details to give her a day she’ll never forget!